Kissinger; Soviet Leaders Were Assured Brezhnev Will Be Treated with Respect During U.S. Visit

May 14, 1973

WASHINGTON (May. 13)

Henry Kissinger, President Nixon’s national security advisor, asked all Americans yesterday to bear in mind the important purposes of Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid I.Brezhnev’s forthcoming visit to the U.S. Dr. Kissinger, who returned from a five day visit to Moscow, made the remark at a White House press briefing when he was asked if the Russians expressed concern for Brezhnev’s security, particularly in view of the attitude of some American Jews toward the visit. “There was no concern expressed by Mr. Brezhnev or any of his senior colleagues about the physical arrangements for his trip,” Dr. Kissinger said.

He added: “We have assured the Soviet leaders that they would be treated with the courtesy and respect consistent with the considerable importance we attach to the improvement of our relationship and we have every hope that all Americans will bear in mind that Mr. Brezhnev. will be here as a guest of the U.S. government for extremely important purposes in connection with the peace of the world.” Brezhnev’s American visit June 18-26 was announced yesterday by the White House.

Dr. Kissinger was asked whether the Soviet leaders were aware of the Congressional opposition to trade concessions to the USSR as long as that country restricts the emigration of its citizens, particularly Jews. He replied that “the Congressional reluctance concerns not so much trade deals as the most favored nation clause and of course the Soviet leaders are aware of the fact that there is some opposition in the form of the Jackson Amendment to the Administration’s proposal.”

MFN INTEGRAL PART OF NEGOTIATIONS

Dr. Kissinger asserted: “We, the Administration and the President, very strongly hold the view which I expressed before I left, that the MFN status with the Soviet Union is an integral part of the whole complex of negotiations and should not be isolated as a separate American measure for which we can exact additional concessions.”

Some observers here felt that Dr. Kissinger was understating the temper of Congress when he described the Jackson Amendment which enjoys overwhelming support in the Senate as a form of “some opposition” to the Administration’s trade bill.

They also observed that while Dr. Kissinger said the U.S. should not attempt to gain additional concessions from Moscow by isolating the MFN issue from the rest of the U.S.-Soviet negotiations, the Russians had done substantially the same thing by imposing the education tax on emigrants and subsequently suspending it to gain additional concessions from the U.S.

Dr. Kissinger told the newsmen, “We have in the past brought to the attention of the Soviet leaders the impact of the Jewish question on the American domestic situation. As you know, we have made considerable progress in the sense that the Soviet leaders have formally acknowledged that they are waiving the exit tax and you can assume that whenever we meet, an occasion is found to bring this to the attention of the Soviet leaders.”

Mayor John V. Lindsay of New York, who returned from a visit to the USSR over the weekend told television news reporters that the condition of Jews there was as had as ever. City Hall announced that Lindsay would issue a full report on his Russian visit at a later date.